To address illnesses that cause blindness, the health ministry has approved a groundbreaking plan to conduct the world’s first transplants of retinal cells grown from artificially derived stem cells received from donors.
A team of doctors is preparing to perform the transplants in the first half of the year as part of clinical trials on using so-called induced pluripotent stem cells.
In contrast to transplants that use cells taken from the patients themselves, experts believe using the cells of another person will reduce the exorbitant costs and waiting times.